Rankings watch: emerging Aussies continue assault

Emerging Aussies have continued their promising push up the professional rankings ladder, with several young guns this week achieving rankings milestones.

Melbourne, Australia, 13 May 2013 | tennis.com.au

The wave of emerging Aussie talent has continued its promising push up the professional rankings ladder, with several young guns this week achieving rankings milestones.

On the women’s side, Storm Sanders for the first time cracked the world’s top 300, moving up 19 places to world No.289.

The 18-year-old’s rise came thanks to her run to the quarterfinals at last week’s $50,000 ITF event in Fukuoka, Japan, along the way upsetting No.1 seed Saisai Zheng in straight sets.

“Career high ranking of 289 today! Cracked the 300, woo very happy 🙂 thanks for all your support!” Sanders tweeted on Monday.

Also enjoying continued improvement was Alison Bai, who jumped 33 places – cracking the top 500 as a result – after qualifying for a $25,000 ITF event in Phuket and then going on to reach the second round.

In just two weeks, Bai has risen from No.600 to her current mark of No.482.

Among the men there were several improvers, with success on both the ATP Challenger and ITF Futures circuits proving a valuable ranking point earner.

The most notable movers and shakers were:

Rose

New rank.

Latest result

Matthew Ebden

10

No.124

QF Kun-Ming Challenger

James Duckworth

32

No.186

SF Rio Quente Challenger*

John-Patrick Smith

34

No.227

SF Kun-Ming Challenger

Andrew Whittington

57

No.569

F Greece F5 ITF

Gavin Van Peperzeel

93

No.658

F Israel F8 ITF^

Carsten Ball

96

No.668

F USA F11 ITF

Harry Bourchier

142

No.1338

R2 Italy F6 ITF

* Duckworth’s semifinal run in Rio Quente was preceded a week earlier by winning the title at an ITF Futures event in Chile, contributing to his rise in this week’s rankings. He built an eight-match winning streak before falling in the last four in Rio Quente.

^ Thanks to continued success in Israel (he reached the semifinals of an ITF event there the week prior) Van Peperzeel has risen from No.832 to No.658 (a career-high) in just two weeks.